Border Run Day 2 - 414km and interrupted

I had a really cold night in that motel room and was glad to get up early, beating the alarm by 30 minutes.

Dressed and a warming cuppa and I was under way.

Turned out of the main street of Injune and a small wallaby jumped into my path. No problem there, happens all the time. In fact the road from Injune to Womblebank was lousy with them. But the narrow road was nicely mowed back a distance and they were easy to see in the glare of the spotties.

A loud blast of the horns now and then and they noticed me and fled.

Even so I kept the speed to 80kph for most of the way in to Mitchell.

It was a very cold ride. Mostly not a problem with the bike's heaters on full and the low speed, but when the gauge read minus 1 my toes froze. Tucking them right up against the heads helped a little but those vents in the under panels sure didn't help at all.

In to Mitchell and the Caltex now has a nice restaurant and I ordered a big plate of B&E with coffee and sat thawing while it was cooked. Fueled up and headed for Charleville, the sun was now at my back and the day warming up nicely. Lots of dead wildlife on the road but no sign of live kangaroos at all. Happily buzzed along at the 110 limit hoping to bring my average up closer to the 100 needed for such a long day.

I didn't really need fuel in Charleville but needed a pitstop and so topped up the bike at the same time.

Back on the road again and I was travelling south in warm sunshine on a good road. What could possibly go wrong?

There was an oncoming car with van and keeping an eye on him I guess I was a bit late seeing the roo coming from my left. It was angled away so a dab on the brakes would see him go in front. But he may have been spooked by the car and swerved back towards me and my gentle brake became a full panic - way too late.

Collision inevitable, I released brakes at the final moment and leaned in to take the force. The bike took most of it and whipped the roo around so it hit me on the left leg. No damage to me. The roo was no more.

The car and van were locked up and swinging wildly but safely off the road to their left. I pulled up, gingerly in the loose gravel off the road and got off to take a look.

Damage was minimal, mostly to the spotlight that had done such a good job earlier. But the main worry was green fluid dripping everywhere.

The caravan people walked back to see I was OK and within minutes there were several other caravans pulled over. No cars - no trucks - as usual.

But the caravan people were really nice and helped me get the flow of green stemmed enough so I could at least ride the 38km back to Charleville. They even followed me in to make sure I was OK. We may curse caravanners occasionally as mobile roadblocks, but they were nice helpful caring people with me and have gone up in my respect.

Back in Charleville I sought out the Honda shop but they couldn't be much help as it would need parts and they could take a while to get. No quick fix was going to get me going again.

So on to the insurance company, QBE, and they were really good. Transport is arranged to get the bike back to Brisbane Motorcycles and I am in a motel tonight awaiting a flight out tomorrow. All covered.

Even better, he informed me I can have one claim per insurance period without losing the no-claim bonus - and this period runs out in two weeks. (That last one was more than a year ago).

So there's my sad story. Didn't make it to Border Run 2011 but the good thing is it is on every year.

And I'm OK to ride another day. No biggie really. I've hit roos a couple of times before but this was the first time there was enough damage to ruin the trip.

I am glad I was on a big strong bike which took most of the hit and kept me safe.

Thank you Mr Honda.

I did manage a few pics so here they are:

Mitchell Hot Springs. Would have been nice but too early

Early morning wait while I breakfasted

The good caravanning folks

Damage not too bad but that radiator is terminal.

Border Run Day 1 - 1204km

With a 5.00am start it was always going to be cold.

Actually not to bad out of Brisbane and up the highway. Very little traffic going my way but lots heading in to town.

Around Cooroy the fog set in. It was not too bad however and the travelling was fine and cool until Gympie.

Stopped for breakfast at the Caltex Truckstop for a nice big bacon and eggs. Allowable on the diet.

Foggy.

After gympie, turned left towards Kilkivan and took the delightful Kilkivan-Tansey Road with its little hillclimb to bed in the new front tyre.

Still Foggy

North through Ban Ban Springs and the fog persisted way past sunup, the sun being quite visible through the mist.

It didn't let up until Gayndah where I burst into full sunshine and things at last started to warm up. The temp gauge even registered double figures.

Always good to get a "BIG" photo

Why am I heading north when this is the Border Run trip?

Well, in FarRiders, I think I've mentioned before, we play a game of tag. One FarRider tags a location with a photo and it is up to another FarRider to go copy that tag and replace it with one of his own.

The current tag is the Duaringa Hotel and - well - it wasn't TOO far out of the way.

Duaringa Tagged

Only problem now was to head back south and most of the direct routes contain lots of dirt roads. GoldWings don't do dirt very well. They just don't like it and always sound like they are rattling apart. Sealed roads they do well so best to keep to them where possible.

So I had to go all the way out to Emerald then head south again.

I didn't have a previous tag to post as I haven't been anywhere much exciting in the last few months so getting late in the day I snapped a pic of a definite intersection near Rolleston for the next tag. Someone will find it I'm sure.

After that it was just make my way into Injune where I just managed to get the last room in the Motel. The one without the TV. Ah well, I rarely watch it anyway.

I'll be able to get a good nights sleep for another big day tomorrow.

Don't forget to say Hi below.

Cheers

Border Run 11

I'm setting off on Wednesday for the annual Border Run, a long distance ride originally organised by BMW clubs of SA and WA to meet at the SA/WA border.

The ride has been going for 35 years although there is no particular "organising" any more, people just turn up on the first Saturday in August, get together for chats, drinks and food, then leave next morning.

One interesting participant is the 'Pudding'. This is a genuine Big Sister Self Saucing Pudding in a can, unopened, that was at the first meet and has turned up every year since. The Pudding is an extensive traveler and only travels by motorcycle. Due to its age, it is now encased in resin.

A photograph with the Pudding is a must for every rider who attends the Border Run.

I have one or two other goals for this trip, which will become apparent as I go.

Stay tuned.

Here's a location map of my whereabouts.